NAGPUR: After a dominating victory over Maharashtra, the in-form Vidarbha will face formidable Rajasthan in the quarterfinal of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy at the Airforce Complex ground, Palam in New Delhi on Thursday.
While Vidarbha topped the plate group, Rajasthan were dominant in the Elite 'C' group. It will be interesting to see how Vidarbha bowlers contend Rajasthan on the pitch known to favour batsmen with fast outfield. Vidarbha bowlers will look to repeat their pre-quarters performance that actually suffocated Maharashtra and made the target easy to chase.
Once again the onus will be on opener Atharva Taide and skipper Akshay Wadkar, who bats at No.3. Siddhesh Wath, who can be destructive on his day, will look for a solid start in the crucial encounter.
The middle-order combo of Apoorv Wankhade and Jitesh Sharma will need to fire on all cylinders to keep their team afloat and also for their IPL chances.
Jitesh, in particular, has addressed all the Vidarbha middle-order shortcomings in the shortest format. Batting at No.5, the right-hander has scripted the remedy for Vidarbha's slow run-rate issues over the last few years.
Against Maharashtra, Sharma slammed 28 runs at the strike rate of 400 that grabbed the attention of IPL talent scouts available in Delhi.
